Tales of the Wanderer: The Signers
by The Masked Wanderer
Summary: When a new enemy threatens to destroy all of reality, the Wanderer observes as the universe calls upon a band of warriors to protect the worlds from the threat. A crossover between Yu-Gi-Oh! and various other animes/games/etc. Rated T.
1. Prologue

There are many stories as to how the universe began, and many contradictions in each story that seem to blur the line between the true force that created the universe.

Was it black magic; did everything that exists just appear out of thin air with no clear or logical explanation? Like from mysterious, ancient powers that caused creatures to come to life?

Or was it done by alchemy, the science of understanding, deconstruction and reconstruction? Is there indeed a law of equivalent exchange; can you not gain one thing without sacrificing another?

Many legends speak about a legendary war fought with weapons called Keyblades, in a conflict that destroyed the universe. And it was only through the hearts of children that the universe was restored, separated into smaller worlds connected by one common thread; the heart of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts.

Yet another explanation revolves around balls; in fact, the universe and the heavens (more commonly referred to as "Other World") are two parts of a giant ball that makes up all of existence, with a race of beings called the Kais watching over all of it.

Indeed there are many stories as to how the universe was born. And yet, in just a matter of time, all would cease to be relevant.

You're probably wondering why you're listening to any of this. Why should you care about how the universe began? How does it affect you in any way?

Well, you should care.

It is important that you care about how the universe. Because only then will you understand… how it all came to an end.

**Tales of the Wanderer: The Signers**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING that shows up in this fanfic. They are all owned by their respective owners**

There was nothing worse than forgetting something really important.

That is the particular predicament Yugi Muto found himself in now.

The chains on his hands weighed down on him like anvils, crushing his wrists like they were plastic. His legs were tied up in ropes, and his body was strapped to the chair he was sitting on. His eyes were covered in a blindfold made of black leather, so he couldn't even tell where he was. Judging by the smell, he assumed it was in a dusty warehouse or a giant, dirty basement.

Breathing slowly but heavily, Yugi cracked his neck a bit. It had been like this for two hours; the blow to his head must have been so hard that he could barely remember what had happened before then.

_She's gone...  
_

Yugi's eyes widened under the blindfold. Who's gone? He just couldn't put the pieces together.

_Ic__e cream..._

_"Ice cream?" _Yugi thought. Someone was gone, and ice cream? How did those two connect? Yugi strained his mind to try and remember. Was there something else? Anything else?_  
_

For the next ten minutes, Yugi tried to rustle himself out of the chains, but to no avail. From what he could tell, they were made of iron, nearly impossible to break (at least by an ordinary man). Yugi would have to be at least three hundred pounds to break free of these chains. Of course, if he did weigh that much, he wouldn't have been kidnapped in the first place. And he wouldn't have to resort to dueling to provide his income.

_And my wife wouldn't have left me._

That was it! His wife! That must be who was missing! The kidnappers must have gotten his wife! Yes, he remembered now! They had been walking in the park together, eating bars of ice cream, when two guys in black suits approached them and grabbed her brown hair without warning. Yugi had tried to protest, but the man refused to listen, picking her up by the pigtails-

_Cute, beautiful pigtails tied up in red ribbon_s...

Wait, that didn't add up.

She hasn't worn pigtails in years!

"Ah, I see our guest has been taken care of!"

That voice! It sounded so familiar to him. It had kind a gruff, condescending feeling to it. It almost reminded him of someone from long ago, someone he knew.

But it couldn't be. It just couldn't.

"Who are you?" Yugi bellowed. "Why are you doing this?"

"Ah, so the darkness within you awakens..."

This voice sounded different than the first one. It sounded like it belonged to an old man, close to his seventies or eighties. Yugi could almost sense a smirk appearing on the old man's face, as though he had bested Yugi, in a way.

"What do you mean?" Yugi was used to these cryptic statements by now, but that didn't mean he liked them.

"If I had a nickel for every time you said that word, I'd be even richer." It seemed like the first speaker was rolling his eyes in disbelief. It wasn't clear to Yugi how he knew this; he just knew.

"But it can't be..." Yugi whispered.

"What's wrong, Yugi?" The stranger whispered in his ear. "Too scared to face the truth?"

A tear fell from Yugi's left eye. "Why..." He asked. "Why are you doing this?"

Without answering, the stranger walked away. Eventually, he stopped in one place.

"Cut it off."

Without warning, the blindfold fell to the ground, so quickly that it took Yugi a few seconds to realize that they had been cut. Putting his eyes into focus, he attempted to take in his surroundings. However, the minute he looked in front of him, Yugi wished he had left his eyes shut.

That was when the memories began flooding back.

_Cute, beautiful pigtails tied up in red ribbon_s...

_Ice cream..._

_She's gone..._

_The park..._

_Toy bear..._

_Two men..._

_Blood..._

Yugi screamed in terror, as the memories started to painfully resurface, and he remembered why he was here.

This was no random kidnapping; it had been planned. By none other than the only man with the power, the money, and the motive to do so.

Seto Kaiba.

And that was not his wife sitting in the chair in front of him, gagged with a giant white cloth and blindfolded.

That was his four-year-old daughter, Sarah.

"No..." Yugi's voice started to break, and more tears began to flow from his face.

Sarah's muffled screams placed daggers in the duelist's heart, while Kaiba merely smirked with delight.

"It wasn't hard to convince her. All I had to tell her was that she'd never see her daddy again, and soon enough, she was as obedient as a dog!"

"Children are very easy to manipulate. Trust me; I have some experience." The old man agreed. He was dressed in a black coat that obscured his face, but Yugi could see a white goatee sticking out of the hood.

Trying to scramble free of his bonds, Yugi's chair fell down, his face now shoved into the hard, gray cement.

Kaiba sighed. "This is the part where I tell you my plan for revenge and you yell triumphantly about how friendship will save the day and other crap like that. But this time..."

He pointed a gun at Sarah's head.

"I'm not giving you that chance!"

And he fired.

* * *

Time seemed to freeze up.

Yugi was no longer in an unknown, dark place. He was back home, with his grandfather and friends in the Card Shop...

He was playing with his friend Joey in school, teaching him how to play Duel Monsters...

He was standing with his friends in a circle, as Tea drew the circle of friendship with ink on their hands, the bond that would last for years to come...

He was dueling Seto Kaiba for the first time, summoning the lengendary Exodia against the latter's Blue-Eyes White Dragons...

He was on the boat to Duelist Kingdom, as Joey fought to save the Exodia cards that Weevil had thrown overboard...

He was fighting against Kaiba again, when he was forced to make the choice to kill Kaiba or sacrifice his grandfather...

He was fighting against Pegasus, in order to save his grandfather's soul, as well as the Kaibas...

He was fighting against Marik, in order to save the world from destruction...

He was sacrificing himself to save the Pharoah, so that his soul wouldn't be offered to the Great Leviathan...

He was fighting against Yami Bakura, in order to restore the Pharoah's memory...

He was fighting against the Pharoah, in order to put his soul to rest...

He was getting married to Tea, the love of his life...

He was holding his newborn daughter, whom he named Sarah, which he put in his loving wife's hands...

He was sitting in a courtroom, next to his divorce lawyer, with his wife on the opposite end of the room...

He was sitting in the park with his daughter, dueling some bullies from her school...

The last image he saw was Sarah's beautiful, smiling face, with her short brown hair quite similar to her mother's, and her light green eyes that emiited a radiance of their own...

* * *

All Yugi could see was the blood stained teddy bear his daughter had been carrying, lying on the floor a few feet in front of her corpse.

And everything after that was a blur...

* * *

It wasn't a good ending. It was hardly an ending at all.

In fact, it was only the beginning.

There are many theories as to how the universe began. But no one can really give any insight as to how it would end. For who really knows what is to come?

One child's death was only the first of many. One casualty in this catastrophic, incredible war that threatened the security of all worlds, all timelines, all parallel timelines, all of reality.

And one child's death would cause the birth of five others.

The Children of the Stars.

The holders of the Mark.

The Signers.

All of the pieces were coming together. This game of life and death was going to begin...

**To be continued**


	2. The Cracks in Time and Space, Pt 1

The Cracks in Time and Space

Things happen because they are meant to happen.

Things happen in order to cause other things to happen.

Things always have a reason for happening.

That is the one, fundamental law of the universe. For as long as man can remember, this law of "cause-and-effect" has dictated the flow of all timelines. If many things relies on another thing to happen, that other thing _can and must happen. _These are what are known as "fixed points in time".

By definition, a fixed point in time is an event that is set in stone. Completely unmovable, untouched by time and space whatsoever, without which the entire timeline would collapse. These fixed points are actual events that tie many other events together. If they do not happen, those events do not happen. And if those events do not happen, the events that are connected to them would not happen. This would set off a chain reaction of massive proportions, one that would threaten all of reality itself.

Then again,you already know that. That's just common knowledge. Is it not?

No.

Perhaps not.

That's not something everyone knows.

But just because you don't know something doesn't mean it isn't there.

Or that it isn't important.

In fact, a fixed point in time is where this story begins. The story of the innocents that were soaked in blood, and how in the ensuing chaos, a crack was opened.

One of many cracks.

The cracks in time and space.

* * *

The people screamed like banshees, like they were less than human beings.

All around the city, millions of people began collapsing, as though something was forcefully being pulled out of them. The scene was horrific in every way possible; one child was even on the verge of tears upon seeing his mother cough and gag before him.

Within seconds, the unknown cause of the travesty had spread towards each corner of the city, engulfing everything in its path. Nobody was safe; no man, no woman, no children, and no animal. All were lost, destined to suffer through this unspeakable and unforgivable tragedy.

And just as soon as it had begun, it ended. The nightmare was over. But the damage had already been done.

The ground was now littered with bodies. They did not budge, merely lying face down in the dirt. Two men with blonde hair lay sprawled over a pack of manure they had been carrying. A girl who had been playing with her friends had fallen into a ditch, her neck snapped by the fall.

Even though she had died long before her body had even touched the ground.

There was a bright, shining light coming from a building in the center of the city. Somewhere near the stairs, just before the center of one of the rooms, lay a white, shining crack in the middle of the floor...

* * *

**Tales of the Wanderer: The Signers**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist**

* * *

******Part 1: The First Crack**

**About 400 years later...**

"Here, Edward. I want you to take this. You do know how to you it, don't you?" Hawkeye outstretched her hand and revealed the object to Edward.

Ed gasped a bit when he saw what it was. It was a loaded pistol. A gun.

"A weapon," Alphonse finished out loud, as if he had just read his brother's mind. "For killing people."

"Yes, but it's also a weapon for protecting your lives," Hawkeye finished.

Ed felt as if a stone had dropped into his heart. Sure, he was willing to do anything to prevent Gluttony from escaping, but this? No, he had never even considered the possibility that they would have to resort to such means.

Gritting his teeth together, he thought about before, when he and Al had fought Scar again, when he had to protect Winry from ruining herself. He remembered what he had said to her, why she couldn't kill Scar or anyone else:

_Flashback_

_Grabbing Winry's hands into his own, Ed continued. "It's your hands. They weren't meant to kill._

_End Flashback_

Then Ed's mind wandered to later on, at the train station, when Winry was about to return to Rush Valley:

_Flashback_

_"No dying, okay?" Winry said, outstreching her head out the window._

_End Flashback_

After a few moments, Ed gave up. "I'll take it." He outstreached his human hand to the Lieutenant, and she placed the killing machine in his hand. This was no time for moral or ethical debates; there would be plenty of time for that AFTER he and Al were restored in their original bodies.

Ling looked into the window. "Look after Lan Fan." He then left to rejoin Ed, Al, and the panda bear.

Lan Fan heard her master's voice, and called out to him, a white cloth on her forehead and her face all red and sweaty.

"Wait! My lord!" The girl cried out in vain.

After the boys disappeared into the forest, Mustang looked over to Knox, who was sitting next to him. "Let's go." The doctor did not respond for a moment. Mustang repeated again. "I said let's go!"

After further hesitation, Knox cursed, "Damn! What are they thinking!" Starting the car, he continued. "Those three are gonna get themselves killed!

And with that, the four of them drove off into the distance, letting the fates of chance decide where the winds of time would take them.

Whatever the hell that meant.

* * *

Explosions were happening everywhere. Bits and patches of land were being consumed left and right, followed by surges of red electricity. This was no doubt the handiwork of the Homunculus, Gluttony.

The monster was on a rampage; nothing could stop him. He would not rest until he had eaten the body of the man who took his precious Lust away from him.

"Mustang! Where are you, Mustang! You killed Lust! You will pay!"

The monster inside Gluttony roared like a rampaging wildebeest, ready to ravage his prey like a dog ravages a toy he's grown weary of.

And of course, Ed and the others just happened to be hiding behind the trees on the verge of peeing in their pants.

Except for Al, of course.

"I know I said we'd stay and all, but that's seriously freaky!" Ed commented, his voice queasy and riddled with a slight twinge of fear.

"He seems to be a bit angry." Ling added, his voice also queasy.

"How are we gonna catch him?" Al asked.

All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.

It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.

"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"

Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"

However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"

Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.

And now he knew who the dog really was.

Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:

"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Gluttony was standing behind his brother and the meals he was talking too. All of a sudden, something amazing happened. Deep inside Gluttony's belly, where the eye was, a white crack started to form in the black pupil. Slowly, it began to eat up everything in a bright flash of white, blinding light.

It reached as far as the trees and the bushes around him. It reached as far as to where the soul bonded to the suit of armor was. It reached as far as the shape-shifting man made his reappearance after a period of absence.

It may even have reached as far as the end of the forest...

* * *

All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.

It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.

"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"

Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"

However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"

Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.

And now he knew who the dog really was.

Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:

"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"

* * *

_And it never, ever stopped shining. It burned so bright it brought back time._

* * *

All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.

It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.

"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"

Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"

However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"

Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.

And now he knew who the dog really was.

Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:

"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"

* * *

_Never ceasing. Never fading. Never dying._

* * *

All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.

It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.

"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"

Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"

However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"

Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.

And now he knew who the dog really was.

Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:

"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"

* * *

_It was light that kept the world turning, in a never ending cycle of time and space_

* * *

All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.

It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.

"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"

Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"

However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"

Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.

And now he knew who the dog really was.

Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:

"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"

* * *

_But everything must come to an end sometime._

* * *

This was the first crack in time.

This is where this terrible and ill-fated journey began.

In a little forest in the middle of nowhere.

The boy, Edward Elric, is the fifteen-year-old son of Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim. He, along with his brother Alphonse, have done the unspeakable crime of going against the ways of God, by trying to bring back the long-lost soul of their mother, who died of illness when they were wee childs. Their father had left them long before then, so they had no one to care for them in their small little town called Resembool, save for the old woman Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter Winry.

The aforementioned incident left Edward maimed, taking his left leg as punishment for his sins against God. This act deprived him of the right to stand on his own without the help of others, stripping him of his pride. His brother, on the other hand, got the worst of God's wrath. The failed act of revival left Alphonse without a body, so that he could not feel the warmth of his mother he so desperately craved. The boy would have been lost to darkness, trapped forever in the void of nothingness, had Ed not sacrificed his right arm to save the only piece of his brother he could: his soul.

By carving his own blood into a discarded suit of armor, Edward prolonged his brother's life and kept him alive, so he did not have to suffer the burden of his failure alone. And thus, the boys would remain standing in shame, forever haunted by how they had given up everything... for nothing.

But then a man came. Roy Mustang. He showed Edward the error of his ways. He gave him a reason to start fighting again, and offered him a position as State Alchemist in the Amestrian Military. With this, Edward would not only be the youngest State Alchemist ever, but he would also be given new rights and privileges, and the chance to possibly find the one thing that could restore him and his brother to normal: the Philosopher's Stone.

But it would not be an easy task.

He would have to face scorn and prejudice by many people in many different places, seen as a "dog of the military" or a "human weapon", or a foolish boy who sold his soul to devils. The irony of this would soon become relevant.

In addition, the journey would be tumultuous. The brothers would have to face horrors of unspeakable nature. They would have to life a life on the road, never truly belonging anywhere. And they would keep on running, running, until bloodshed and violence would be like a blessing to them, to ease themselves from the horrors that still plagued their heart.

But Edward took that chance. He loved his brother more than anything in the world. And he would do anything to restore him to normal, even if he had to die to do it, or travel as far as the ends of the earth itself.

Poor boy.

If only he knew how far he would actually go...

* * *

Meanwhile, many miles away, in a land forgotten by time, a man stood in the ruins, waiting and watching.

There were no people anywhere besides him. There never had been. For many centuries now, this land was untouched by the sands of time.

The man wore a blue cloak which fluttered in the breeze. It looked like a Xingese cloak, whatever the hell those looked like. It had a hood on it, and the inside of the cloak was covered in black, almost as if it was insulated. Underneath the cloak, the man wore a tattered black linen shirt with scars all over it, though it seemed to be in an alright condition. On his neck, he wore a black choker that was starting to come apart at the seams. Finally, he had tri-colored hair; purple at the edges, black in the middle, and yellow at the bangs, which stuck up like they were knives.

Opening his mouth for the first time in ages, the man spoke up.

"Guess it's that time of the century again."

The man then took his hand and clapped them together. It was time for his waiting to pay off...

**To be continued...**


End file.
